The MB Spares has recently removed this coupling and shaft assembly from a W123. we were surprised to see it and have since looked at a few other cars and some have small cracks in them. This the coupling in the middle of the column, you need to remove the trim under the dash to check it. So this post is a service to all W123 owners and will be made a sticky so it stays at the top of the list.

Go and check your steering column coupling. NOW.

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Inaugural OZBENZ national meet this September, all welcome to attend. https://ozbenz.net/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=25165

Interesting that you have had a few near failures - it's a part that is very well protected from the elements etc. Is this more of an issue for cars with high kms or that have done country driving? Or is it a case of the rubber just aging?

pastelgrey300D wrote:Interesting that you have had a few near failures - it's a part that is very well protected from the elements etc. Is this more of an issue for cars with high kms or that have done country driving? Or is it a case of the rubber just aging?

Car it came from was a well serviced car with 260k on it, spent most of its life in Sydney, so at a guess not much different to many other W123's out there.

Inaugural OZBENZ national meet this September, all welcome to attend. https://ozbenz.net/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=25165

pastelgrey300D wrote:Interesting that you have had a few near failures - it's a part that is very well protected from the elements etc. Is this more of an issue for cars with high kms or that have done country driving? Or is it a case of the rubber just aging?

Car it came from was a well serviced car with 260k on it, spent most of its life in Sydney, so at a guess not much different to many other W123's out there.

fire truck, that's why it spend half it's life travelling up and down parrammata road, twice a day :/

I swear the idiot with no foresight who blocked the completion of the M4 all the way into the CBD because of "highway noise" regrets it now..... instead of some 'woosh' noise with the sound dampeners/walls you hear everything from bicycles to 18 wheeler trucks going over every pot hole...

and they cannot close the road and repair it because it's the only west bound way into the city.

And the logistics that it crosses a few councils so they blame each other for the roads faults.

When I put the turbo into the 300D, I found that the exhaust was very close to the steering box. There were no issues though, until I removed it for installation in the 280CE. I found that the flex coupling for the steering had degraded with the rubber melted around its periphery, mainly in the "straight ahead" position.
The 280E had a heat shield there to protect the coupling from exhaust heat.
I retained the heat shield when the OM617A went in.

Life is a journey, with problems to solve, lessons to learn, but most of all, experiences to enjoy.